FC: More unfriendly behavior by Mailblocks: Nasty patent lawsuits

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

See earlier round on Mailblocks:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=mailblocks

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From: "Ray Everett-Church" <ray () everett org>
To: <dave () farber net>, <declan () well com>
Subject: more unfriendly behavior by Mailblocks
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 15:25:08 -0800

(For IP and Politech)

And the hits keep on coming...

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Spam foe needs filter of himself
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5565843.htm
By Mike Langberg
Mercury News

Phil Goldman, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur and co-founder of
WebTV, wants to become a leader in the war against spam, but he's begun
by attacking his coalition partners rather than the enemy.

Last year, Goldman purchased a questionable patent that he claims gives
his new company -- Mailblocks of Los Altos -- exclusive rights to an
established anti-spam strategy called challenge/response.

He's sued three anti-spam companies and is making demands that would, in
effect, put at least one of them out of business. Talks are under way
with more companies, which could also face suits if they don't agree to
Mailblocks' demands.

This is not how the system is supposed to work.

Anti-spam companies should be devoting all their resources to stopping
the oceans of unwanted messages that threaten to drown everyone who uses
electronic mail, not diverting thousands of dollars to defend themselves
against unnecessary lawsuits.

The story begins last summer when Goldman had a great idea: Stop spam by
erecting a barrier. If you send me an e-mail and I've never corresponded
with you before, you get an automated reply that says something like,
``Click here to verify that you're a real person and your original
message will be delivered.''

Spammers often use fake return addresses, and rarely bother to check for
replies when they use real addresses, so the technique -- called
challenge/response -- is almost 100 percent effective in blocking spam.

Goldman, who's worked at Apple Computer and General Magic, struck it
rich when he and two partners started WebTV, then sold the unprofitable
start-up to Microsoft in 1997 for a staggering $425 million.

...




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